Ports 1961

Ports has, since its launch under Ian Hylton, vacillated between classic and conceptual. It tends to be on firmer footing with the former. Happily, for Spring, that's where it stayed. When Ports attempts unfussy, all-American (North American, Canadians like Hylton will clarify) sportswear and tailoring, the results have an easy chic. Strong tailoring, cropped trousers, and even a few supple pairs of suede shorts had just that. And while things got a bit trickier with a scaly, geometric print inspired by the sculptor Rainer Lagemann, it stayed just this side of wearable, on the whole. "I was feeling something with a masculine geometry for Spring," explained Hylton, who designs the line with Ports' Fiona Cibani, "but it needed an element of lightness." The dégradé effect on the pattern gave it that.